Eye, the international review of graphic
design, is a quarterly printed magazine about
graphic design and visual culture

Summer 2017

Brand in the hand

Typography

In Melbourne, more than a century ago, a ‘printer’s fist’ inadvertently became one of the earliest corporate identities

Australian businessman Valentine Morgan (1876-1952) was well versed in the seductive possibilities of the printed image. His print advertising used all the typographic hallmarks of the early advertising age – embellished lettering, unapologetically forceful display faces, snappy headlines. Alongside this was another popular graphic motif commonly found in any compositor’s tray – the pointing finger, a typographic device also known as the ‘index’ or ‘printer’s fist’.

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All editions from the collection of author Stephen Banham.

Stephen Banham, designer, Letterbox, Melbourne

Read the full version in Eye no. 94 vol. 24, 2017

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions, back issues and single copies of the latest issue. You can see what Eye 94 looks like at Eye before You Buy on Vimeo.